Earlier this year, Cambridge’s Postdoc Academy asked women postdocs to submit short stories describing their scientific inspiration and what it means to them to be a woman in STEMM.
The project is aimed at encouraging more young girls to study science. Participants submitted stories, aimed at 10-12 years old girls, about their scientific superpowers.
Carrie wrote her story whilst in Greenland on fieldwork this summer. She is one of six winning entrants, each of whom nominated a school to receive three copies of the illustrated book, ‘Heroines of Science’, by Dr Lorena Escudero Sánchez, who initiated the project.
This year, the books are on their way to China, Kent, Sri Lanka, Greenland, Ecuador and Pakistan. Carrie's nominated school is Nuuk Internationale Friskole, Nuuk, Greenland.
Carrie's story
Did you know that minerals inside rocks are like time capsules? They record stories telling us what was happening on Earth millions of years ago. My scientific superpower is that I can read these hidden stories. I use them to understand how very special types of rocks form on Earth, which contain lots of valuable ‘rare-earth elements’. We need these elements to build wind turbines and electric cars. These technologies are really important for society because they reduce how much we burn fossil fuels, which pollute Earth’s atmosphere and cause climate change.
To tell a rock’s story, my research begins by collecting samples. Right now, I’m in Greenland doing exactly that! The rocks here are amazingly old (1200 million years!) and formed by magma cooling kilometres underground. Giant glaciers have since cut into the landscape to reveal them. Once I’ve hammered off a rock sample, I take it back to my laboratory in Cambridge. There, I decode its story by looking at its tiny minerals with a microscope. I then use computers to model how the rock formed. The stories tell me why rare-earth element-rich rocks form in some places but not others, and help me predict new places to find them, helping us fight climate change.
The hidden stories within rocks are why I wanted to become an Earth Scientist as a child. I discovered that rocks I saw on holiday in north England were formed by 450 million-year-old volcanoes. It seemed incredible that scientists knew this when no volcanoes are there anymore! Now I’m excited that I am one of those scientists, and can use my science superpower to help protect our planet. Next time you see a rock, imagine the hidden stories it contains!
About Carrie: I studied Natural Sciences as an undergraduate in Cambridge and completed my PhD in Earth Sciences in 2022. I’m interested in igneous petrology, geochemistry and critical mineral resources - lots of things that relate to how our planet forms rocks from magma and how these processes give us minerals that are useful to society.
The Postdoc Academy announced the awards in celebration of Postdoc Appreciation Week.